Next-Gen Games Could Demand 900-Person Teams

The bigger the games, the bigger the stakes.

David Polfeldt, the managing director of Ubisoft Massive, is working on one of the most expansive Xbox One and PS4 games currently in development. As a team member on The Division – a postapocalyptic combat game sporting the team’s brand-new engine – Polfeldt understands the work it takes to produce a AAA title in the modern era.

Although small, four-person indie teams might be able to create a piece of software all by themselves, projects like Assassin’s Creed and Call of Duty take hundreds of skilled experts to make it to market each and every year. The ease of development on the new consoles changes the nature of the process, and Polfdelt argues that we could actually see smaller teams in the near future. However, most people in the know predict otherwise.

“I would argue that, because the machines are more capable and because the developers are more experienced on average, we could do this with smaller teams,” he told GamesBeat in a recent interview. “To me it’s like in any type of construction work. Ultimately the machines and the competence and the ability to plan and so on mean you can do more with fewer people.

“Most other people I talk to, though, expect us to need huge teams. We’re talking about 700 or 900 people. That becomes an enormous financial risk, and very difficult just from a process perspective. It’s very difficult to lead a team efficiently when it’s that large. That’s becoming a big problem.”

Risks in big-budget titles would almost be non-existent if this many people were needed to bring them to life. Hopefully, we won’t have to deal with that issue in the near future.